'Powered Guardian Robot Helicopter' - Battlegyror, Jet Heli and Winchers Helicopter
Unlike the bulk of Gobots figures the Power Gobots Secret Riders were not originally part of Bandai's Machine Robo toy line. They began life in the Bandai side line Zenmai Kahen (Spring-powered ) Variable Winch Robo. It was only after the Machine Robo Revenge of Cronos anime was underway that they were offered as part of 'DASH Machine Robo' in Japan and Power Gobots in the United States and Canada.
Prior to that all three had been sold in Europe for Robo Machine and Australia as Machine Men under the sub-line 'Winchers'; even though one doesn't have a winch function. Then rotor for all versions of Twister spin freely and is not powered by the motor.
Secret Riders and their global counterparts are a lot of fun, however on closer inspection do feel a little out of place in the Gobots line and are clearly sourced from a previous offering. The inclusion of the ride-on sled feature and that they cross over into self justifying as being interesting transforming puzzle models vs. robust play in the dirt action toys as desired by the West speaks volumes of their Japanese origins.
It's worth noting that in Japan, while the Variable Winch Robot toys were a lower price point version of Bandai's larger, battery operated 'The Winch Robo' line, in the West the toy were less connected. In Europe and Australia both loosely made it into Bandai's Robo Machine and Machine Men lines respectively and in North America Tonka didn't release them for Gobots at all and instead Mattel distributed them as Powerbots.
Region Codes Used: JP Japan / US United States / CA Canada / EU Europe / AU Australia (region list is correct however likely incomplete)
Power Gobots Secret Riders US / CA Tonka [Black Head, Grey and Red Details] 1986 *
Robo Machine Winchers EU Bandai [Darker Blue, Chrome Head, White and Crome Details] 1985
Machine Men Winchers AU Bandai [Darker Blue, Chrome Head, White and Crome Details] 1985
Zenmai Kahen Winch Robo JP Bandai [Darker Blue, Chrome Head, White and Crome Details] 1985
DASH Machine Robo Revenge of Cronos JP Bandai [Black Head, Grey and Red Details] 1986
* Some marketing for Twister showed the production Power Gobots figure with the original chrome head.
Prototype: The rear of the Secret Riders packaging shows a predominately white Twister with a metallic grey head and green eye, matching grey rotors and other similar details that are a lighter grey on the production version. Red details seen on the retail release are also present while stickers added are not seen on any other release. While only speculated it's likely this is the prototype colour scheme prior to the final blue version being settled on.
Twister and Battle Gyror are unfortunately two of the blue models that can suffer from pigment darkening; other examples include Buggy Robo (Buggy Man) and Truck Robo (Road Ranger). The Twister below shows some discolouration while the Battle Gyror has retained the original colour.
Twister was released with both English and French names on the same box in Canada; Twister / Tornade.
Credit: Weapons kindly proived by Jörg Zimmermann
